Practice question · Multiple choice
Why is the mycorrhizal partnership between fungi and plant roots thought to have been important for the colonisation of land?
Hints
- Fungal hyphae are far finer than roots and reach a far larger volume of soil.
- The plant supplies sugars; the fungus supplies mineral access.
Show the answer
C. The fungus greatly extends the root’s absorptive reach for water and nutrients
Why
A mycelium explores a far greater volume of soil than roots alone, supplying water and minerals in exchange for sugars. Fungi cannot photosynthesise, that is exactly why the trade works, and mycorrhizae appear in the earliest land-plant fossils.
Practise The Colonisation of Land
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